Ethnic Design Necklace/Vintage 4” Bronze Baule Head Pendant/Antique Trade Beads

Description

I am listing a one-of-a-kind ethnic design necklace that I created, made with a great vintage cast bronze African Baule tribe head  pendant, s
trung with old, antique Venetian trade beads.
Hand made glass beads from Venice and other European countries were traded in Africa for hundreds of years (some sources say as early as the late 1400’s, others date it from the 1600’s, with the heyday of trading from the mid-1800’s to the early 1900’s.) Beads were used as money in exchange for goods, services, and unfortunately slaves. They began to come to the US during the 60’s and 70’s and became known as Hippie beads or Love beads. Interest died down for awhile, many unusual ones ended up in serious collections and museums, and African traders I know tell me it is harder and harder to find the really old ones any more. These particular beads came from a group I bought several years ago, from an estate of a man who had a quite large collection of African items, and who had a gallery in Santa Fe during this 70’s early influx of beads. B
ronze pendants such as this one are cast individually by hand, in the lost wax method. It has a very nice, dark patina on it.
Size: Pendant 4" H x 2 1/4" W; Necklace 20" around; brass toggle clasp.
Please watch my site for other necklaces I will be listing, that I have designed with vintage,
Pre-Columbian, gemstone, and trade beads, strung with ethnic and antique pendants, old fishing lures, those of my own design and castings, and other funky, fun and interesting things I find on my flea market adventures.
Thanks for looking.
_gsrx_vers_827 (GS 7.0.13 (827))